From economic integration to socioeconomic inclusion: day labor worker centers as social intermediaries

Day labor worker centers have emerged as an important mode of regulatory action in the informal economy of major US cities. Research suggests that these organizations are beneficial in improving employment outcomes experienced by migrant workers engaged in this labor market sector. Yet, the extent to which these organizations impact the social integration of this working population remains relatively undeveloped in the literature. Using data from the National Day Labor Survey, we examine the impact of day labor worker centers on the level of social inclusion experienced by migrant day laborers. We find that worker centers have a modest, but statistically significant, impact on the levels of social integration experienced by this working population and that this varies from city to city. Ultimately we argue that the social intermediary role of these organizations may offer a type of counter mobilization necessary to promote the socioeconomic integration of this working population, but that issues of capacity remain.     

The Ca II triplet lines in Starburst and AGN

In the frame of the Starburst Model for AGN, we show that the evolution of a massive stellar cluster in a high metallicity environment can reproduce the observed equivalent widths of Ca II triplet lines in absorption in Starburst and active galactic nuclei. In the case of Starburst galaxies, this strength, together with the emission-line ratio [O II]/[O III], can be used to determine the age of the cluster. The strength of the Ca II lines is mainly governed by the age of the stellar cluster through the presence of red supergiant stars.     

The spherical interpolation method of source localization

A closed-form least squares approximate maximum likelihood method for localization of broad-band emitters from time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) measurements, called the spherical interpolation (SI) method, is presented. The localization formula is derived from least squares "equation-error" minimization. Computer simulation results show that the SI method has variance approaching the Cramer-Rap lower bound.     

Internal tidal bore warm fronts and settlement of invertebrates in central Chile

We studied the occurrence of large high frequency temperature fluctuations and their potential association with settlement of intertidal invertebrates during the spring/summer period 1999/2000 at Las Cruces, on the coast of central Chile. Our results showed the existence of internal tidal bores, characterized by sharp drops in water temperature at the surface and near the bottom, and subsequent temperature increases, which occurred with a semidiurnal periodicity. Measured currents support the hypothesis of alternating onshore and offshore movement of warm-water fronts. The frequency of the events varied through the summer and their amplitude seems to be modulated by onshore winds. The strongest events were observed when strong onshore winds occurred in late afternoon hours and the entire water column showed a semidiurnal temperature signal. Highest values of chlorophyll concentration in the intertidal zone and daily settlement of bivalves, gastropods and crustaceans were observed at times when conditions were favorable for occurrence of internal tidal bores. Results suggest that internal tidal bore warm fronts could play an important role in the transport of neustonic larval invertebrates and the delivery of phytoplankton to at least some intertidal sites along the coast of Chile.     

A simple population synthesis model for the continuum of the Seyfert type-2 galaxy Mk 348

The spectral energy distribution of the Seyfert type-2 galaxy Mk 348 is analyzed based on IUE observations and published data. It is found that most of the optical and near-IR flux comes from the underlying galaxy bulge population. The rest of the emission can be fitted by a power law of the formF _v v ^– with =0.6. In order to explain the X-ray emission this power law requires either a change of slope or a cutoff before 2 keV. The possibility that the emission originates in a young star cluster is discussed and a simple population synthesis model for the continuum of the galaxy is presented.     

Fine-grained landuse characterization using ground-based pictures: a deep learning solution based on globally available data

ABSTRACT

We study the problem of landuse characterization at the urban-object level using deep learning algorithms. Traditionally, this task is performed by surveys or manual photo interpretation, which are expensive and difficult to update regularly. We seek to characterize usages at the single object level and to differentiate classes such as educational institutes, hospitals and religious places by visual cues contained in side-view pictures from Google Street View (GSV). These pictures provide geo-referenced information not only about the material composition of the objects but also about their actual usage, which otherwise is difficult to capture using other classical sources of data such as aerial imagery. Since the GSV database is regularly updated, this allows to consequently update the landuse maps, at lower costs than those of authoritative surveys. Because every urban-object is imaged from a number of viewpoints with street-level pictures, we propose a deep-learning based architecture that accepts arbitrary number of GSV pictures to predict the fine-grained landuse classes at the object level. These classes are taken from OpenStreetMap. A quantitative evaluation of the area of Île-de-France, France shows that our model outperforms other deep learning-based methods, making it a suitable alternative to manual landuse characterization.     

Modelling of coupled fluid‐mechanical problems in fractured geological media using enriched finite elements

Geological environments, such as petroleum reservoirs, normally exhibit physical discontinuities, for example, fractures and faults. Because of the reduced thickness of these discontinuities, finite element formulations with strong discontinuity have been applied to the numerical modelling of geological environments. Until now, two relevant characteristics of petroleum reservoirs have not been addressed by these formulations. The first is the pore pressure jump in the direction normal to a discontinuity in a fluid‐mechanical coupling condition, which is present primarily in sealing faults owing to the contrast of permeability with the porous medium. The absence of this jump can affect the prediction of the deformability of a physical discontinuity. Furthermore, reservoir models frequently use coarse meshes. Thus, the method used to evaluate the pore pressure in the discontinuity may exhibit a strong dependence relative to the mesh refinement. Based on these characteristics, in this study, a formulation of an enriched finite element for application to coupled fluid‐mechanical problems with pre‐existing physical discontinuities saturated by a single fluid is presented. The formulation employs discontinuous interpolation functions and enables the reproduction of jumps of displacement and pore pressure associated with a discontinuity inside the element without the need to discretise it. An approximation to estimate the pore pressure in the discontinuity was developed, one which seeks to minimise the influence of refinement. The element's response is verified by comparison with a one‐dimensional analytical solution and simple examples that are simulated using commercial software. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Core Jamming in Unconsolidated Formations

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - In coring operations, core jamming is a permanent concern, taking place when the rock core sample becomes stuck within the inner core barrel, thus...     

The Temporal Climatic Variability in the ‘Río De La Plata’ Basin Displayed by the River Discharges

Streamflows have a direct dependence on precipitation and these are directly linked to the climate. Then, in this paper the temporal climatic variability in the Río de la Plata Basin is analysed through the changes in the river's discharges. These are the reflection of the climatic inputs areally integrated, and in consequence, contain more information on climate variability than that provided by the scarce punctual records of precipitation and temperature. The time series of streamflows correspond to monthly and annual means in stations selected in the basin for the period 1931–1992. However, in the present paper, the period 1901–1992 was considered in all cases whenever possible. The following changes and tendencies in the flow series were detected: 1. An important change of tendency between 1970 and 1972, and another not so significant before that date were detected in 1917–1918 and 1943–1944. 2. The jumps in the means in several sub-periods were detected using different methods. They showed jumps mainly in the period 1970–1972 in the annual streamflows series. The jumps in the annual streamflow series consist of an abrupt change in climatic variables affecting temporarily the averages of such variables during a certain period of time (years). The results are consistent with the conclusions obtained by other authors for the same region, both in precipitation and in the general circulation of the atmosphere. Keeping in mind this analysis of the series of streamflows, indicators of normal variability of tendencies relative to natural regional causes were detected, although the local causes were not anthropogenically analysed, and so no other manifestations of randomless in the zone of the Basin under study because of the lacking of data.